Seven weeks after disappearing in the South Australian scrub, a pet dog named Einstein has proven his survival smarts.

The Maltese cross, who took off from his holidaying owners, has turned up alive and is now recovering well as the exhausted pooch rests in safe hands after arriving at a vet clinic in Tea Tree Gully.

Einstein was on holiday with his Queensland owners Jeff and Sue Johns on September 18 when he escaped into the Anstey Hill recreation park near Houghton, south-east of Adelaide.

"I had thought he may have been got by a snake or may not have been able to survive that long," Jeff told 9News over Zoom.

Hopes of finding Einstein were fast fading.

Then, yesterday afternoon, 53 days after his adventure began, he was found by a local family.

The runaway was rushed to the

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